


A Game of Pool

by soraxtsuna123



Series: The Outsiders Requests [8]
Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types, The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Banter, Best Friends, Cute, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Misunderstandings, No Romance, One Shot, Secrets, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26013490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soraxtsuna123/pseuds/soraxtsuna123
Summary: Dally and Ponyboy are secretly best friends. One day, the gang finds out about it.
Relationships: Ponyboy Curtis & Dallas Winston
Series: The Outsiders Requests [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821424
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63





	A Game of Pool

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nelle010101](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Nelle010101).



> Request by Nelle010101 on FFN.
> 
> Requests on this platform are not accepted.

Ponyboy and Dally had a secret. Well, it wasn't really a secret, per se. If anybody would have asked them about their little secret, they would have told them without really thinking much about it. However, nobody ever did ask them because it didn't seem like it would work in the first place.

That secret? The two of them were best friends.

It was strange—them being so different and all—but they just clicked together. The two of them snuck around everyone, finding times to hang out with each other without the gang getting suspicious of them. Even though their friendship wasn't a secret, they still felt like they had to hide the fact that they were best friends because of three words: Ponyboy's overprotective brothers. It was obvious that they would be totally against them being friends, and they had the power to end the friendship in just a few words. Them casually being around each other made Darry and Soda nervous enough already. So, they snuck around, not even telling the rest of the gang in fear that they would let it slip to Pony's brothers.

One afternoon, they were given an opportunity to hang out with each other.

"Want to go bowling?" Darry asked one day out of the blue. Everyone's head instantly shot up in interest at the question. Grins broke out on their faces in excitement. It wasn't every day that they got to all go out and do something together. However, the grins that were on Dally's and Pony's faces were for a different reason. They both shared a look with each other. This was an opportunity for them.

"Bowling sounds like fun!" Soda commented, eyes gleaming in excitement. He turned to Steve, shaking his shoulder. "We should go, Steve."

Steve nodded in agreement. "Sure, I haven't gone bowling in a while," he added.

"Johnnycakes here and I will go," Two-Bit chirped, volunteering for Johnny before the younger boy could speak up. He didn't mind though. He wanted to go as well.

They all turned to Dally and Ponyboy, who hadn't spoken yet. Dally was the first person to speak, shrugging his shoulders. "Nah, man. I have something to do," he said. The gang all nodded. They wanted everyone to hang out together, but it was fine if Dally couldn't come this time.

"Pony, what about you?" Two-Bit asked.

Much to their disappointment, Ponyboy shook his head. "I have to finish an essay," he lied. "Sorry about that."

"You have to finish an essay? Do you want me to stay with you?" Johnny asked but Ponyboy just held up a hand in denial.

"No, go! Don't make me be the reason for you staying behind. It'll be really boring for you here. You should have fun with the gang! Don't worry about me, Johnny."

Johnny frowned. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Now, go or I'm going to boot you out of this house myself."

"Well… if you say so…"

When the gang left, Ponyboy and Dally got everything ready to leave themselves. They didn't really know what they were going to do, but they figured that they would find something to do eventually. And, after many minutes of contemplating activities, they decided to head to Buck's to play some pool.

Music blared from Buck's, causing Pony's ears to ring even before he stepped into the building. Dally seemed really accustomed to it, however. Nobody paid them any attention as the two of them waltzed over to an empty pool table, grabbing cue sticks from the rack. Dally quickly set the table up for them and that's when an idea hit Ponyboy.

"I bet that I could beat you," Ponyboy challenged. Dally snorted, playfully rolling his eyes at that.

"With what money?" Dally asked, smirking.

"No money. If you lose, then you have to get a tattoo of my choice; on anywhere that I want to put it."

Dally looked at him with amusement. "And what tattoo would that be?"

Putting a finger to his lips, Ponyboy let out a short laugh. "That's a secret. I guess you just have to lose and find out."

"Not happening, man. I'll take that deal on. But, if you lose, then you have to shave off Darry's hair."

Ponyboy's jaw dropped. "You're giving me a death sentence."

"Hey, you're the one who started this. A permanent punishment for a permanent punishment."

A frown stretching his lips, Pony shifted his weight to his other leg. "You know what? I was going to give you mercy and get you a really tuff tattoo, but I'm not going to do that anymore."

"You could only say that if you were going to win."

"Oh, I'm going to win," he declared, huffing. "You're on."

The two of them playfully shook hands with each other before moving around the pool table to start playing. At first, everything went really smoothly. Both of them played seriously. But that soon evolved into them trying to mess each other up. They grabbed at each other's cues right before they could hit a ball, knocked into each other, and stood uncomfortably close to one another. The time that they spent trying to cause the other person to lose, dragged the game on for hours more than it would usually take. It was long enough for an idea to form in Ponyboy's head. He smiled to himself as he thought about how he would go about his plan.

Dally looked up at him, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. "What's with the smile?" he asked. "You're about to lose."

Ponyboy shot him a square grin. "Oh, just having a lot of fun," he diverted as it was his turn to go again.

It was time to use his acting skills. Ponyboy looked around Dally, craning his neck to the side until it started to feel strained. He overdramatically squinted his eyes, causing Dally to look at him in confusion.

"What are you looking at?" Dally asked.

"I think… I think someone's trying to grab your attention," Ponyboy lied, hoping that Dally would fall for it. Fortunately for him, he did.

At his sentence, Dally turned around, exposing his back to Ponyboy. As quickly as he could, Ponyboy started to push the balls into the holes. He internally thanked Buck that he had the music on so loudly. When Dally started to turn back around again, Ponyboy straightened up his posture and acted like nothing had happened.

"Nobody was there," Dally explained before his eyes fell onto the pool table. He raised an eyebrow, already knowing what was up. He knew exactly what Ponyboy did while he was turned away. He wasn't going to fall for his shenanigans.

"I win," Ponyboy tried, unable to hold back a giggle.

Dally rolled his eyes. "Nice try. There's no way that you got that."

Ponyboy dramatically gasped as he sat down on the side of the pool table. "What? I can be good at pool."

"If you were _that_ good at pool, you would have won a lot earlier."

The younger boy shrugged. "I won though. That means you have to get a tattoo."

"Not a chance, man!" Dally retorted. "You cheated. By default, you lose."

While they were discussing who had won and who had lost, they didn't notice the gang peek through one of the windows. They had finished bowling not that long ago (Two-Bit won but he wasn't going to brag about it). To finish off the night, they decided to head to Buck's who was hosting another party. While they were about to walk inside, Steve noticed two familiar figures through the window that he wasn't expecting to see. He quickly called the rest of the gang over, all of them shocked as well.

"Why are they here together? I thought the kid had homework," Steve questioned.

"Yeah, I did too," Darry grumbled, pressing his face harder into the glass as if that would give him a better look at the scene in front of him. "He knows that he's not supposed to go to Buck's either."

They watched as Dally lightly punched Ponyboy's shoulder, a smile on his lips that they had only seen a few times before. If they would have seen him smile in person, they would have commented about it, but Pony looked like it was natural to him. This meant that he had probably seen it many times before—enough to get used to it. It made the gang wonder. Did Dally reserve his smile for Ponyboy?

A thought crossed Two-Bit's mind. "You don't think that they're…" he started, juggling with his words, "dating, do you?"

The two of them looked awfully close, and the fact that they had probably lied to them to hang out with each other was another factor altogether. If they were dating, none of them expected it at all. They were so different from each other. It didn't seem like they would get along well. But there was proof right in front of them now, proving them wrong.

"No, Ponyboy's not dating him," Johnny answered, pressing his lips tightly into a thin line. He just didn't know how they could have gotten so close without him noticing. Johnny was always with Ponyboy. He was practically glued to his side. Surely, he would have noticed something.

"Yeah, he's not," Soda added. "But when did they get this close? That's my question."

"I don't know, but let's find out," Darry declared before he swung open the door before anybody knew what was happening.

"Maybe we shouldn't—" Two-Bit started, but it was too late.

"Ponyboy!" Darry bellowed, voice somehow louder than the blasting music.

From the doorway, they saw Ponyboy stiffen up, scrunching up his shoulders as if he was just caught in a terrible act. In some ways, he was.

Crap.

Slowly, he turned around, putting on a strained, fake smile. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked through his teeth.

"We were just walking by when we saw you," Soda softly answered, but his voice was muffled by the music.

Darry glowered at Ponyboy. "Don't _'what are guys doing here_ ' me. What are _you_ doing here? You're supposed to be at home doing homework!" he ranted.

Ponyboy let out a fake chuckle, feeling cold sweat trail down his lower back. "Well, you see… funny story," Ponyboy said. "I didn't actually have homework."

"But why did you lie to us about that?" Johnny asked, trying to understand his friend's motives.

"Because…" he swallowed thickly. "I didn't think that any of you would let me hang out with Dally by myself."

Two-Bit took a step forward. "Yeah, why is that? What did you want to hang out with Dally?"

"Because we're friends?" Ponyboy said that like it was the most obvious answer in the world. "We're _best friends_."

Steve sputtered, "Best friends? You two?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" Dally shot back, irritated that none of them were getting it.

"I mean, yeah," Two-Bit answered honestly. "You're so different from each other."

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Soda asked.

Sighing, Ponyboy gestured to everyone. "Because of this. You're making this a big deal when it shouldn't be."

"Pony, you know that you shouldn't be hanging around Dally. He's a bad influence," Darry scolded, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ponyboy narrowed his eyes to challenge his eldest brother. "Or, maybe, I'm a good influence."

"Yeah, I can't do much illegal stuff with him around," Dally backed him up, even though it wasn't helping him one bit.

"Ponyboy…" Darry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Look, I'll make sure that the Ponyboy doesn't get himself into too much trouble. All we really do when we hang out is talk or play pool. Nothing bad is going to happen to him, man. I'm making sure that he grows a backbone and learn how to use his head in the streets."

"Yeah, and you know that I wouldn't do anything that would risk me getting taken away by the state," Ponyboy whined. "I honestly have a great time with Dally. So, please, don't take this away from me."

Soda placed a hand on Darry's shoulder, smiling. "It's fine. Pony knows what he's doing. They will watch out for each other," he reasoned. Ponyboy just wanted to hug his brother then and there for backing them up.

Darry looked at Soda reluctantly. He really didn't want Ponyboy to hang out with Dally. But he knew that he probably wouldn't be able to stop them from being friends. If they went this long without them finding out about their friendship, then they could probably continue doing so. The last thing Darry wanted was for Ponyboy to learn how to become even more sneaky than he already was. He sighed, scratching at the back of his neck. "Alright, fine. But we are going home now. Ponyboy, you know that you're not supposed to go to Buck's," Darry said.

A huge grin broke out on Ponyboy's face. Even Dally was smirking slightly. "Yeah, yeah! I know," he said, but him being in trouble for going to Buck's was the last thing that was on his mind. He was just happy that the gang was letting him be close friends with Dally.

They all got ready to leave when Ponyboy remembered something.

"Dally, before we go, you have to do your deal," he stated.

Dally shook his head. "No, no, no. You're the one who cheated. You lost," he retorted. "So, do your end of the deal."

The younger boy gaped. "But—"

"Do it. You have to do it. A deal's a deal, man."

Ponyboy looked at Darry with worry, much to the confusion of the gang. He turned back to Dally. "He's going to kill me."

"You got to do it."

"What deal are you talking about?" Darry asked.

Sighing, Ponyboy held out his hand. "Someone hand me a razor," he mumbled. "Darry, I'm sorry about this."

"What deal are you talking about?!"


End file.
